With their landmark gig at Brixton Academy fast approaching, Only The Poets are giving an unsigned act the chance to support them in front of 5000 fans
Only The Poets are giving an unsigned act the chance to support them at Brixton Academy. The group are due to play the South London venue in just a matter of weeks and have already made history with the gig.
The Reading-based quartet, consisting of frontman Tommy Longhurst, guitarist Clem Cherry, bassist Andy ‘Roo’ Burge, and drummer Marcus Yates, sold tickets for just £1. Since they started the band eight years ago, they’ve gone on to find success across the world.
Recently, they toured across the United States and in the past, have supported the likes of Yungblud, Lewis Capaldi and Louis Tomlinson, to name a few. But one thing has remained the same for the band – supporting grassroots venues, making music accessible for all and giving other musicians a platform.
And while most support acts are often signed to major labels, Only The Poets are shunning this and are giving one lucky musician or band the chance to play in front of 5,000 people at Brixton Academy on February 2. Those who make the shortlist of five acts will be invited to perform at The Purple Turtle in Reading on January 31, as Only The Poets launch their debut album, And I’d Do It Again.
On Instagram, the band said: “It has always been our dream to play Brixton Academy. We’ve had the opportunity to support other artists, and it really changed everything for us. So we wanted to give an opportunity to an up-and-coming artist to come and play in front of 5,000 people at this legendary venue.”
Those who want to be in the running have been instructed to comment on the band’s Instagram post before heading to their website to apply. Fans attending the Reading show will then choose the support act for Brixton. So far, their comment section has been flooded with recommendations.
London-based musician Roxburgh has been added to the mix, alongside Derbyshire-based RoeParkin, Alfie Neale, Isaac Levi, The Slates, Soap, Pedro Santos, Jason Allan, and Lock-In. Speaking about the opportunity, the band said: “Without grassroots venues we won’t have the next big bands, and without bands & fans going to grassroots venues, they can’t keep the doors open.
“Growing up playing in local venues gave us our first chance to get on stage and perform to people, and supporting other artists down the line changed everything for us, so we wanted to bring the two together. We’re excited to support our favourite grassroots venue (The Purple Turtle) and invite five new artists to play to a packed-out room, showcasing the amazing new talent that’s out there.”
Speaking to the Mirror about their upcoming gig, Tommy said: “It’s always been the destination for us, that’s the dream, that’s the goal, anything above that is a complete bonus, it’s a rite of passage in the UK, it’s a phenomenal venue. We’ve felt very inspired in that room, so to be going there and doing a show, hopefully maybe doing a similar sort of thing to some younger people and for our fans, it’s a celebration of our journey and our album – we couldn’t think of a better place to do it, it’s our dream venue.”
“Music for us in our early years was so important, especially live music,” Tommy added, before explaining the band wants the night to be an “escapism” for people to leave all of their troubles at the door. Clem told me: “To draw attention to an issue that, for us, gigs in our early years were everything. Going to concerts is where we made our friends, it’s where you go to let go and escape. For us, musically speaking, it’s where we got our inspiration to start picking up instruments. If we can give that back to other people, that’s everything.”
The record, which centres around the rise to where they are now was called And I’ll Do It All Again as the four-piece are firm believers in “everything happens for a reason.” Tommy explained: “It feels like it’s almost a time capsule of our journey as a band for the last seven years.
“But when we’ve been writing and producing it, we’ve all been through quite a lot personally. It’s a real emotional journey. I guess we just believe that every single thing in life, not just in the band, everything in our lives has led us to this point. And if people say, ‘Would you change it a bit?’ the answer is no. We really believe that everything happens for a reason, and hopefully, the fans will feel like we’re celebrating with them.
“We’re going to all the grassroots venues that we love dearly, so it’s really going back to where it began at the point of our record, it’s behind the messaging of it all, it’s that full circle moment. We’re so proud of it, the boys produced it with our producer Dandelion, it feels the most cohesive, and we feel like we’re the band we’ve always wanted to sound like.”
Meanwhile, while Clem admits things have never felt “forced”, he says this record is the most “unforced” project they have ever worked on. He said: “The whole process of putting it together has just been so natural. We never really sat out like ‘Right, it’s time to make an album’ it was just kind of like we just sort of slowly stockpiled this collection of songs that kind of all met each other in terms of like themes, in songwriting, and sonically, they kind of gelled, it felt like it was a really natural, organic process for us as well.”
And while they’ve played some incredible venues across the world, grassroots venues will always remain close to their hearts. “It’ just sad,” Tommy said of dozens, including the closure of Sheffield’s The Leadmill. He went on to add that many musicians start their careers at smaller venues, performing to a handful of people. “You fall in love with it more,” he said, adding: “They are the seed that will hopefully grow the tree and help you get on the ladder of the live music scene.”
Clem commented: “It’s also, I think, what gives a lot of up-and-coming or undiscovered artists the belief in themselves that they can do it, which, obviously, for us, is exactly what happened.”
And I’d Do It Again is available to pre-order now and is released on January 30.
Source: Mirror
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